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Think Christianly is about seizing the opportunities we have every day to speak the life Jesus offers into our culture. Tragically, many such opportunities pass us by unclaimed---either because we don't notice them or we have not prepared ourselves to enter into them. And those around us seem to grow increasingly unwilling to hear anything the church has to say. Jonathan Morrow helps church leaders envision and implement ways for their congregations to 'think Christianly' about contemporary questions and to speak in informed, engaging ways.

Morrow explores many of the important issues that Christians often hear raised with regard to faith---questions about who Jesus was, the good and bad of religion, pain and evil in the world, the reliability of the Bible, sexuality and intimate relationships, and hope for change, among others. The life and faith issues that Think Christianly addresses lead to cultural moments where Christianity and contemporary culture intersect. This book will help churches take vital steps toward cultivating compassion and competence in speaking faithfully to a questioning world.

Publisher's Description

Think Christianly is about seizing the opportunities we have every day to speak the life Jesus offers into our culture. Tragically, many such opportunities pass us by unclaimedeither because we dont notice them or we have not prepared ourselves to enter into them. And those around us seem to grow increasingly unwilling to hear anything the church has to say. Jonathan Morrow helps church leaders envision and implement ways for their congregations to think Christianly about contemporary questions and to speak in informed, engaging ways. Morrow explores many of the important issues that Christians often hear raised with regard to faithquestions about who Jesus was, the good and bad of religion, pain and evil in the world, the reliability of the Bible, sexuality and intimate relationships, and hope for change, among others. The life and faith issues that Think Christianly addresses lead to cultural moments where Christianity and contemporary culture intersect. This book will help churches take vital steps toward cultivating compassion and competence in speaking faithfully to a questioning world.

Author Bio

Jonathan Morrow is the founder of www.thinkChristianly.org. He cowrote (with Sean McDowell) Is God Just a Human Invention? and is the author of Welcome to College: A Christ-followers Guide for the Journey. He graduated with a MDiv and an MA from Talbot School of Theology and serves as equipping pastor at Fellowship Bible Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. You can visit him online at www.thinkChristianly.org.

ChristianBookPreviews.com

Think Christianly by Jonathan Morrow centers on Christian apologetics within our culture. Morrow emphasizes that our culture has major questions regarding ethics and who Jesus really was. He believes that the Christian church needs to engage that culture with a ready mind and a solid foundation of core beliefs. He suggests spending time on Sundays outside the sermon time to "talk about the truth of Christian worldview in the context of cultural moments" (p.133). Morrow writes Think Christianly to assist Christian churches in engaging today's families, teens, college students, and business people.

Morrow has three main points: Christians should know the cultural background they witness in; they should have a solid knowledge of their faith; and should live like Christ on the outside, resulting from a change within the heart.

Think Christianly is divided into three sections. The first section discusses the intersection between the Christian faith and the American culture. This part focuses mainly on the intellectual questions about Jesus and the contemporary ethics that our culture has. According to Morrow, it is our duty to provide answers to those who are sincere seekers. The second section is designed to prepare the church and individual Christians to engage the culture through ministry, personal evangelism, and outreach works of mercy. The third section is Morrow's advice on how to engage the culture in important areas such as sex and bioethics. In between each chapter, Morrow includes interviews with professors and apologists about the various issues he discusses in the book.

Jonathan Morrow is the founder of www.thinkChristianly.org and the author of Is God Just a Human Invention? He obtained his MA at the Talbot School of Theology. He is a solid Christian who has co-authored or contributed to several books concerning Christianity and society.

Morrow's chief point is that "the gospel is never heard in isolation; there is always a cultural background" (p.83). He uses Acts 17:16-23, the story of Paul in Athens with the idol to the unknown God, to illustrate how Christians should use logic and knowledge of the culture around them when they witness. This is the axis upon which the rest of Think Christianly turns.

Overall, Think Christianly is a well-written and highly-motivational book. The clear-cut sections make it easy on both the eyes and the mind. It is helpful and informative. But its informative side can also be considered its downfall. Sometimes the many statistics Morrow uses become a bit tedious and overwhelming. I think that pastors, study groups, and individuals would enjoy this book if they have an interest in reaching out more effectively to the people around them. The time it takes to read this intensive text is definitely worth it. - Joshua A. Spotts, www.ChristianBookPreviews.com

Think Christianly (2011) by Jonathan Morrow is a book for our times. There are other books that address to implications of worldviews on how we act and I have greatly benefited from the works of Francis Schaeffer.

However, this is a modern book that is relevant to the current generation that is immersed in constant secular communication. Morrow asks us to challenge our culture & worldviews and then move on to proactively engage the society around us.

This book comprehensively addresses the contemporary issues at a very readable level and provides practical advice to put ideas into action. I particularly like the chapters on â€˜Questions of Faith & Science', including a section on Science & the Bible.

I heartily endorse Morrow's book that shows us how to develop and understand our own worldviews, and then go out to the culture with an effective Christian message.

Apologist, author, speaker, and pastor, Jonathan Morrow has written one of the most important books in recent memory. An essential read for all Christians, but even more so for pastors, youth pastors, and lay leaders in the church.

In Think Christianly: Looking at the Intersection of Faith and Culture, it is obvious that Jonathan Morrow has his fingers on the pulse of todays current (and rapidly changing) culture and not only makes a the case for why Christians and the church should be engaging culture but offers a lot of great advice on how to go about it.

Bob Dylan once sang that, "The times they are a changin'" and it seems that we in the Christian community have fallen behind in engaging the culture in which the "times are a changin'" more rapidly than ever! Today's youth and emerging adults are confronted with issues that our parents and grand parents could only imagine or try to predict with educated guesses: The ability to broadcast messages worldwide at the touch of a button; mobile global communication available to the common man; cloningâ€”once limited to sci-fi novels or cheesy movies; the watering down of the Christian message to make it more palatable to a culture that is increasingly hostile to Christianity--The list goes on and these are just a few of the issues Morrow addresses in the book.

In part one of the book Morrow defines what he means by â€˜culture' and explains why we as Christians are called to engage culture in an educated and relevant manner, and how we need to equip the next generation of Christians to be able to properly engage culture as opposed to trying to protect them from it.

Part two of the book focuses on what it means to â€˜think Christianly' by developing a Christian worldview. Morrow describes what a worldview is, how everyone has one, and gives examples of some of the worldviews competing with Christianity. He explains how there are certain life questions that a worldview must give an answer for and how we need to equip Christians with the knowledge of how the Christian worldview answers those questions. He goes on to explain how knowledge is essential for today's Christian as apposed to just a personal experiential faith, which can quickly crumble once young believers emerge from their protective covering and are assaulted with the tough issues and questions facing Christians in today's world.

In part three, the final section of the book, Morrow delves into some of the specific areas that Christians must be equipped to engage, including: Tolerance and relativism, sexuality, media saturation, injustice, world religions, faith and science, and more. One unique feature (and one of the things I like best about the book) of Think Christianly, is that after every chapter Morrow devotes a page to providing other resources including books, dvds, websites, and articles that are relevant to each chapter and will aid the believer in furthering their knowledge on each topic covered. Also, a few pages in between each chapter are dedicated to short interviews with some of today's leading Christian thinkers including, Jay W. Richards, William Lane Craig, Paul Copan, and more.

Think Christianly is a book that encompasses apologetics, evangelism, ministry, and living as a Christian is today's world. Once again, it is a book that I think that every Christian should read; pastors and other church leaders in particular!